Canada secures the top 4th position in the updated 2024 U.S. News country rankings, with an impressive overall score of 94.1.

The nation’s high rating was largely attributed to exceptional results in important categories like entrepreneurship, social purpose, quality of life, and agility.

This year, Switzerland achieved the highest-ranked score of 100, a flawless 100. The following is a list of this year’s top ten countries in terms of indexed scores:

  • Switzerland: Ranked 1st with an indexed score of 100.00
  • Japan: Ranked 2nd with an indexed score of 96.6
  • United States of America: Ranked 3rd with an indexed score of 94.2
  • Canada: Ranked 4th with an indexed score of 94.1
  • Australia: Ranked 5th with an indexed score of 92.9
  • Sweden: Ranked 6th with an indexed score of 91.7
  • Germany: Ranked 7th with an indexed score of 90.6
  • United Kingdom: Ranked 8th with an indexed score of 87.9
  • New Zealand: Ranked 9th with an indexed score of 86.0
  • Denmark: Ranked 10th with an indexed score of 85.2

Canada has routinely appeared in the top five of U.S. News’ ranking of the Best Countries for the last four years. In the overall rankings from the previous year, Canada came in second. The nation is still doing well, but this year’s decrease in the rankings was mostly brought on by losses in the “open for business,” “heritage,” and “entrepreneurship” categories. But notable advancements in the categories of “movers,” “social purpose,” and “adventure” allowed Canada to stay in the top five.

Overview of the U.S. News Country Ranking Methodology

The U.S. News Rankings are based on survey responses from “engaged citizens,” which assess 73 distinct criteria for every nation. These qualities are categorized into ten major themes:

  • Movers: Evaluates the degree to which respondents believe a country to be active, distinct, and unique.
  • Quality of Life: Evaluates elements such as cost-effectiveness, employment opportunities, political stability, economic stability, family-friendliness, income equality, safety, and the effectiveness of the healthcare and education systems.
  • Entrepreneurship: Assesses a nation’s ability to link to the global economy, the quality of its workforce, its availability to finance, its capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship, its infrastructure, its legal systems, its technological know-how, its open business practices, and its access to entrepreneurial possibilities.
  • Agility: Examines the degree to which a nation is perceived as responsive, progressive, dynamic, modern, and adaptable.
  • Social Purpose: Includes a nation’s position on social justice, institutional reliability, equitable distribution of political power, racial equity, gender equality, animal rights, environmental protection, and property rights.
  • Open for Business: Takes into account a nation’s manufacturing prices, tax structure, level of bureaucracy or corruption, and degree of government transparency with regard to commercial activities.
  • Cultural Influence: Evaluates the contribution of a nation’s entertainment, fashion, modernism, prestige, and well-known companies to global culture.
  • Adventure: Focuses on a nation’s tourism-attracting qualities, such as its friendliness, lively atmosphere, scenic beauty, and comfortable climate.
  • Power: Evaluates a country’s leadership on the global stage, its economic and political influence, military strength, and international partnerships.
  • Heritage: Looks at how accessible a country’s culture is, along with its rich history, cuisine, and notable cultural or geographic landmarks.

Canada’s Performance in Key Global Ranking Factors

The following list outlines Canada’s composite scores for the themes discussed earlier.

  • Adventure: Score of 57.5, ranked #16
  • Agility: Score of 89.2, ranked #2
  • Cultural Influence: Score of 52.6, ranked #16
  • Entrepreneurship: Score of 81.9, ranked #6
  • Heritage: Score of 41.1, ranked #30
  • Movers: Score of 27.2, ranked #43
  • Open for Business: Score of 79.8, ranked #15
  • Power: Score of 41.2, ranked #13
  • Quality of Life: Score of 94.2, ranked #5
  • Social Purpose: Score of 97.8, ranked #3

Canada performs exceptionally well in various rankings by U.S. News. It ranks 2nd overall as the best country for establishing a corporate headquarters, making it the only nation in the top ten outside of Europe and Asia. Additionally, Canada is recognized for its strong education system, coming in 4th place globally. The country also stands out in terms of racial equity and perceived transparency, ranking 5th in both categories, with the distinction of being the only non-European nation on the transparency list. Furthermore, Canada is regarded as a favorable place for retirement and raising children, securing 6th place in both rankings.

Canada was the only nation not located in Europe or Australasia to be listed in these rankings.

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